Pasadena
Pasadena's minimum wage is $18.57 an hour beginning July 1, 2026, for adult and minor employees who work two or more hours a week in Pasadena. The city adjusts it every July 1 by the change in the Los Angeles-area Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, and no July 1, 2027 figure is posted on the sources read for this page. California's statewide rate is $16.90.
For a cleaning company with jobs in Pasadena, the city rule this page covers is the minimum wage. It walks through the rate, how it changes each July, California sales tax on cleaning, and what it all means for your books; it doesn't cover Pasadena paid sick leave or business licensing, which are questions for the city. Payroll registration and the employee test are on the California page.
The city's official notice, effective July 1, 2026, requires wages of not less than $18.57 an hour. It applies to adult and minor employees who work two or more hours per week in Pasadena. The city's fact sheet, an older document whose latest scheduled date is July 1, 2022, says that each July 1 after July 1, 2022, the wage is adjusted by the change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for the Los Angeles area. As of October 21, 2026, no July 1, 2027 rate is posted on the sources read for this page. Which crews the ordinance reaches is a question for the city or an employment attorney.
California's minimum wage is $16.90 an hour, effective January 1, 2026, and the Department of Industrial Relations has announced $17.40 starting January 1, 2027.
Source: California Department of Industrial Relations, Labor Commissioner, Minimum Wage FAQ
Source: California Department of Industrial Relations, News Release 2026-66 (August 13, 2026)
California treats residential and commercial cleaning as not taxable under its general service-enterprise rule, Regulation 1501. That's the general rule applied to cleaning, since no California Department of Tax and Fee Administration source naming house cleaning or janitorial service was found. Under the same rule, a cleaning company is the consumer of the supplies it buys and owes tax on them. The detail is on my California sales tax page.
Source: California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, Regulation 1501, Service Enterprises Generally
A CPI adjustment every July 1 means a new number every summer. I don't like a payroll rate that changes without anybody looking at it, so the new Pasadena figure gets checked against the city's posted notice before the first July payroll is recorded. Wages go in at the rate each person is actually paid, and supplies go in at their full cost, tax included. Here's how I approach payroll for cleaning businesses.
I'm a bookkeeper, not a CPA or an Enrolled Agent. I keep wages and supplies recorded; tax questions go to your CPA, and coverage questions go to the city or an employment attorney.
Rules checked against the sources above as of October 20, 2026. Rates and rules change; confirm current figures with the agency or your CPA.
About Figure Eight Financial
Figure Eight Financial is Dave Gordon’s bookkeeping practice for residential and commercial cleaning companies. I work with owners in Pasadena and across the country, and I’m a Certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor.
Before bookkeeping I studied computer science at Penn State and spent a career at IBM as an engineer, so I build the books as a system: data comes in once, lands in the right place, and ties back to a statement. I’m a bookkeeper, not a CPA or Enrolled Agent. I keep the books your CPA works from, and the tax decisions stay with your CPA.
Credentials and memberships reported by Figure Eight Financial.
More about DaveHow I Help
Pasadena's rate moves every July 1 with the Los Angeles-area CPI, so the books need the new figure from the first pay period it applies to. Wages are recorded at what each person is actually paid, and supplies go in at full cost with the tax paid on them. Book a short call below and tell me how your Pasadena jobs are tracked.
The core service. Transactions recorded and categorized, every account reconciled so the books and the bank agree, and monthly reports that arrive explained, split by residential and commercial and sliceable per contract.
The full picture of how this works for a cleaning companyFor the months where nothing got entered at all. I fill in the missing periods from the ground up, pulling bank feeds, statements, and receipts until every month has a complete set of records.
How catch-up bookkeeping worksFor books that exist but can’t be trusted. I audit what’s there, fix the unreconciled accounts, duplicate transactions, and wrong categories, and tie every balance back to a statement.
How cleanup bookkeeping worksYour crews paid on time, every pay period, with each payroll run recorded in the books so labor shows up against the jobs it belongs to.
How payroll worksRecurring invoices that match your contracts, an aging report you can trust, and follow-up on slow payers handled by a process instead of your evenings. Built for net-60 commercial accounts.
How invoicing and receivables workA file built right for a cleaning company from day one, or rebuilt after the DIY version drifts, and then I teach you to run it. I’m a Certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor, and this is honestly my favorite part of the job.
How a proper setup worksWe start with a short call about your business and where the books stand. The first conversation doesn’t cost anything.
I take a look at what you’ve got, your QuickBooks file, your spreadsheet, whatever exists.
You get a written proposal with the price, so the decision is yours with the number in hand.
Let's Connect
Have Pasadena crews on your schedule? Tell me how the July rate change gets into your payroll today. The first conversation doesn't cost anything.
